Barbara Mikulski: “along with Senator Bond, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It provides $1.3 billion for veterans medical…”

“along with Senator Bond, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It provides $1.3 billion for veterans medical care. It is necessary for three reasons: One, it will deal with the growing long lines in which some of our veterans have to wait in order to see a doctor or a specialist. Second, it rejects the concept of having to pay a membership fee to get veterans medical care if they are a category 7 or a category 8. Third, it also rejects the ballooning copayments that were suggested by the administration. First, in the administration's budget, the request was to charge veterans $250 a year to be able to pay their dues. Well, Senator Bond and I believe the veterans did pay their dues. They paid them at Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, the Mekong Delta, and now the burning sands of the Iraqi desert. We are working on a bipartisan basis to reject these new co-fees and these new toll charges. We need this amendment to ensure that the VA can care for returning service members. Under the legislation that was passed by this Congress, the law requires the VA to provide 2 years of medical care for returning service members. You bet we ought to do that. But if we are going to pass the legislation, we should not only put it in the Federal law books, we have to put it in the Federal checkbook, and that is what Bond-Mikulski does.”